Writing format that didn't work for this book

2.5/5
The best thing about this book is its narrator, Caroline McLaughlin. I found her voice very easy to listen to in an otherwise pretty boring book.

It always surprises me how someone can take a sound, exciting idea and flush it down the drain with the execution. The promise of this plot sounded amazing. Two lesbian warrior queens destined to fall in love and fight demons with their special magical powers in a vaguely Asian fantasy background.

The reality is there is very little actual plot development or demon fighting or anything. Instead, the plot consists of Shefali's love letters to Shizika in which she reminisces about what actually happened to them both in a flowery prose. A lot of it happened in her head, I might add. And she felt the need to write about it.

As a consequence, what the characters know and don't feel the need to explain is not spelled to us, and a lot of possibly fascinating details and nuances are lost.

There is a whole backstory of their mothers, legendary warriors larger than life, whom are barely mentioned. There are complexities of Shizika's position as a heir to the throne to her evil uncle emperor, and the tension between them is explored on the shallowest level. There is an issue of Shefali's contamination and her early ability to speak to demons which is never explored. At last, there are magical powers both girls are born with, and author's lack of enthusiasm in using them.

At last, the heroines themselves are not likeable. Shizika is distant, angry and has a huge chip on her shoulder. Shefali is introverted and awkward with a puppy adoration she carries for her best friend, which I found slightly annoying.

There was just so much unused potential and missed world-building opportunities, folks, that I ended up being disappointed and annoyed instead of enjoying The Tiger's Daughter. In all honesty, not recommended.

6 people found this helpful

Who thought it was a good idea to publish this?

I have never reviewed books online. I just have to get this out of my system. This book was suggested for a book club I’m in by one of my friends and I couldn’t even finish it. I don’t mind books that are a series of letters between to characters. I think those can be interesting if done well (i.e. The Screw-tape Letters by C.S. Lewis), however this is one letter. One, six chapter long, letter. Not only is it one letter, the letter does absolutely nothing to create or even touch upon any sort of plot. The description says the book is about two female warriors who fight demons and find love (in a nutshell). I made it just barely into 4 chapters and not ONE demon was fought or even mentioned. 4 out of 6 chapters. Not one. The letter is a giant description of events both parties were there for with no information that was unknown to the character reading the letter. Of what I read it was 4 chapters of over exaggerated hentai tropes. The narrator sounded automated, and even in her monotone cadence it seemed as though multiple eye rolls could be felt as she just tried to make it through and collect her check at the end. I have never returned an audible book, let alone one I haven’t finished, but I had to return this one unfinished. Why? Why waste your time on this? Just don’t.

2 people found this helpful

Warrior Women

What did you love best about The Tiger's Daughter?

The steps of Mongolia and the Hidden City of China make a fresh setting for a Fantasy Novel.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Tiger's Daughter?

Just the burgeoning love story was new and different.

Which scene was your favorite?

The big fight scene at the end. Also the scenes where the flowers move are the best.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If i didn't have a life I most definitely would.

Any additional comments?

It felt like it was in hybrid-second person, which i loved but, at times on the Audio it made hard to determine whose perspective this was written in.

2 people found this helpful

Fantastic

I savored this book over two months and desperately need more. Initially I didn't like the format of letters being exchanged and even thought the voice acting was so-so, but wow did I change my tune less than halfway through. This is truly a unique and immersive world and I can't recommend buying this book enough. Do it!

Great story

Loved this story and how it’s woven together. Features f/f romance. Can’t wait to get my hands on books 2&3

Unfortunately disappointing

I wanted so badly to love this book as a gay woman who lives for the fantasy genre. First, I want to say that the narrator did her best with the tongue-twisting sentence structure and pages of unnecessary description in a way that reminds me of Nathaniel Hawthorne's prose. She seemed to have trouble finding the emotion in the text and I am unsurprised. The characters aren't fleshed out beyond clunky imitations of flowery love poetry and I just didn't find myself caring about them. Well, to be fair, I did feel pity for Shefali. Even in her own words, Shefali seems more to worship Shizuka than to love her. Shizuka treats her like a loyal hound at best, and Shefali seems to exist simply to recite worldbuilding lore and to bleat syrupy praise for Shizuka. All of the fantasy elements seem like afterthoughts, barely explained and stuck haphazardly into what should have been historical fiction--and historical fiction only if more research and respect were paid for the East Asian cultures obviously used to inform this fantasy realm. I wanted to love this book so much, but I feel so let down.

high quality qpoc fantasy

this was incredibly rich and such a beautifully written story. interesting harcaters yes very romance but also so femme forward, queer, powerful and so much incredible world building. I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy. loved the narrator!

Incredible

A journey immersive from the start. The ending had my heart pounding in suspense and left me with the feeling of triumph and pride for it's characters.

Unique Fantasy & Characters to Love

My Review: I finally picked this book up after hearing Sam from Thoughts on Tomes on Youtube mention it as one of her favorite books repeatedly. The cover is stunning and the synopsis was really intriguing, I found the setting (and Mongolian inspiration) to be really intriguing. I buddy read this book with someone from Instagram for the Tome Topple challenge and I am glad I had someone to discuss the book with as I read it! The book is written in a really beautiful almost lyrical way, the words just flow together like music. Admittedly, I had a few concerns when starting the book, first being the various names each characters is called, and this turned out to be a problem as they gain more names as the story continues and some of them are extremely similar. Then next concern I had was that the beautiful writing would be the focus and we would loose the story or possibly even the character connections due to it; that ended up not being a problem, the beautiful writing only added to the story and heightened the intensity of the relationship between Shizuka and Shefali. In fact, the love between these two characters is so strong that it made my heartache and brought me to tears a few times. Even though I was aware that this is a fantasy, I honestly wasn't expecting the magical elements or the demons. While it did add a little to the story and it does become a major plot point, I like that the focus remained on their relationship and own personal character development. While the story is supposedly written as letters and present day moments, in truth it is one long letter to the point of being a book with brief moments of present day reactions of the one reading it. I was honestly expecting more of letters back and forth throughout the story but it is just one letter from one character and the other character reading and reacting. With that said I really think that it word well for this story. It is not often that a second person narration works in books and thankfully Rivera really pulled it off in this one. This book may not be for every reader, and not even for all fantasy fans. It does start off a little slow but it does pick up pace as it goes, but for an over 500 page book it can be daunting. I am beyond excited for the next book and have already pre-ordered it!

One of the best books I’ve ever read !

This Book will always be in my top ten , Patiently waiting for your next book.